Juraszek Pops 21.68 50 FR National Record, Poland Sending 20 To Worlds

2017 Polish Championships

• May 18-21
• Lublin, Poland
• Full Results
• Live Results (with full list of records, swims ranked by FINA points, etc…)

The 2017 Polish Championships took place over the weekend, with swimmers vying for spots at the 2017 World Championships, World University Games, World European Championships and Junior World Championships all coming up this summer.

There were a few notable names absent from the competition, including former world champions Pawel Korzeniowski and Mateusz Sawrymowicz, former Florida Gators Marcin Cieslak and Pawel Werner, and three-time Olympian Katarzyna Wilk. Korzeniowski, Sawrymovicz and Wilk all competed in Rio, Werner qualified to swim the 800 free relay but didn’t end up doing so, and though Cieslak missed the team he did compete at the European Championships last May, and has competed as recently as December.

With some of the country’s swimmers over the past decade no longer in action, many of the young up-and-coming athletes stepped up and performed well. There were three national records over the course of the meet, most notably Pawel Juraszek‘s 50 free where he clocked a time of 21.68. The swim broke Konrad Czerniak‘s super-suited record of 21.72 from the 2009 World Championships, and moves Juraszek up to #4 in the world for the season.

Also breaking a national record and subsequently moving into 4th in the world rankings was Tomasz Polewka, who broke his own 2016 record by 0.01 in the 50 back in a time of 24.71. That swim was done in the prelims, and he backed it up in the final just a touch slower in 24.77.

The other Polish record that fell was on the women’s side, as Dominika Sztandera became the first from the country to crack 1:08 in the 100 breast, clocking a time of 1:07.92. That shattered a 12-year-old record from Beata Kaminska, who went 1:08.54 way back at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal.

The men’s competition in general was very quick, with strong swims across the board. Jan Switkowski, currently competing with Florida in the NCAA, was one of two men who had three individual wins on the meet. He prevailed over Kacper Majchrzak in the 200 free in a time of 1:46.91, good for 11th in the world. Majchrzak then got revenge in the 100 free, holding off Switkowski, 48.67 to 48.93. Switkowski also won both the 100 and 200 fly, with a particularly spectacular finish in the 100. Switkowski ran down national record holder Konrad Czerniak by over a second on the back 50 to out-touch him by 0.03 in 52.04. He won the 200 in 1:56.03.

Also taking three titles for the men was distance ace Wojciech Wojdak, who won the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyles. The 400 was his biggest challenge, as he managed to hold off Filip Zabrowski for the win in 3:48.05 to Zabrowski’s 3:48.67. He beat Zabrowski by four seconds in the 800 in 7:52.13, and cruised to a 14-second win over Krzysztof Pielowski in the 1500 in 15:09.01.

Along with the 50 back record, Polewka held off Radoslaw Kawecki by 0.01 in the 100 back, 54.21 to 54.22. Kawecki then turned in a 1:55.79 win in the 200 back, moving him to #5 in the world. Other impressive performances for men came from Marcin Stolarski, who doubled up in the 50 (27.73) and 100 breast (1:00.33), and Czerniak, who won the 50 fly (23.56) and added a runner-up finish in the 100 free to go along with his 100 fly.

Aleksandra Urbanczyk won three of the four 50m races on the women’s side, claiming free (25.37), back (28.29) and fly (26.10). In both the free and fly she took out national record holder (in both) Anna Dowgiert, who clocked 25.76 and 26.57 respectively for a pair of runner-up finishes. In the backstroke she defeated Alicja Tchorz (28.52), who would go onto win two events of her own.

Tchorz won the 100 back (1:01.03) and 200 IM (2:15.33), and added a second runner-up spot in the 200 back (2:12.47) behind Klaudia Nazieblo (2:11.14). Nazieblo, who competes for the Virginia Tech Hokies in the NCAA, also picked up a win in the 100 fly (1:00.32) and took 2nd in the 100 back behind Tchorz (1:01.43).

Four other women won two events apiece. Justyna Burksa had wins in the 200 (2:01.79) and 400 free (4:13.95), Paulina Piechota was the runner-up in the 400 and also won the 800 (8:39.55) and 1500 (16:41.28), and Paula Zukowska took down the 200 fly (2:15.68) and 400 IM (4:51.67). The other was Sztandera, who added a win in the 50 breast (31.32) to her national record in the 100.

Per Polish site MegaTiming, they’ll be sending 20 to the World Championships in Budapest, 21 to the World University Games in Taipei, 24 to the Junior Europeans in Netanya, and 8 to the Junior Worlds in Indianapolis.

Check out the full Worlds roster below:

Women (5):

• Klaudia Nazieblo (200 back)
• Paulina Piechoto (800 free)
• Dominika Sztandera (50 breast)
• Aleksandra Urbanczyk (50 back, 50 fly)
• Alicja Tchorz (50 back)

Men (15):

• Jan Switkowski (100, 200 free, 100, 200 fly)
• Pawel Juraszek (50 free)
• Filip Wypych (50 free)
• Konrad Czerniak (50, 100 fly)
• Radoslaw Kawecki (200 back)
• Jakub Skierka (200 back)
• Wojciech Wojdak (400, 800, 1500 free)
• Kacper Machrzak (100, 200 free)
• Tomasz Polewka (50, 100 back)
• Dawid Szwedzki (400 IM)
• Kacper Stokowski (50 back)
• Marcin Stolarski (100 breast)
• Filip Zaborowski (4×200 free)
• Antoni Kaluzynski (4×200 free)
• Mateusz Wysoczynski (4×200 free)